1. Trust. If you never do what you say you're going to do, you lose people's trust. When no one trusts you, they know they can't count on you. I almost called this point 'predictability.' But if you never do what you say you'll do, well, then you do become predictable insofar as people will be able to predict what you're not going to do. But ultimately, it boils down to how much trust you can garner from people. People will only trust you when you have a proven track record of doing what you say you'll do. In many cases, we humans often allow ourselves to trust people before they have given us a reason to trust them. This is most likely due to the misplaced belief that other people have the same moral code that we ourselves hold. Call me an optimist, but I honestly do still believe that people want to do the right thing in most situations, but ultimately it will come down to their ability to prioritize in a way that matches your priorities. Let's be realistic here, though, everyone' priorities are skewed to lean toward what's important to them, individually. When they make your priorities their priorities, they will build your trust.
2. Good intentions. "I planned on coming to work when I was scheduled, but I had a flat tire." Unfortunately, the world doesn't function on good intentions. Not when it comes to reliability. Obviously, the example is a situation that couldn't be predicted. But consider this: you leave in enough time for work that any unexpected detour would still get you there on time. Often, as a manager of staff, I have had people call out because their car wouldn't start, or their ride didn't show up, or some other excuse that rode soley on the back of a lack of transportation. A reliable person would find a way. Call a taxi. Take the bus. Ride a bike. Their priority was not a match with mine. My priority was to have employees that can help my customers. Their priorities were not in line with mine. They didn't find a way to make it work. Unreliable.
3. Do what you say you're going to do. If you don't plan on doing it, don't promise it. Politicians could take a lesson in this. How frustrating is it when someone promises they'll do something and then they don't do it? Pretty annoying. Often, they fully plan on doing whatever it was they said they'd do. Again--good intentions. But their priority level of the task is not in line with yours and they forget, or something comes up, and point one is blown. Trust is out the window.
4. Be the person you would want someone else to be. Blah blah blah....treat others as you would want to be treated...yada yada yada....gimme a break! How much more cliche can it be, really? It's true though. Wouldn't you want someone else's priorities to match your own? Would you want the things that are important to you to be important to everyone else? Of course you would! I often think about how everyone has their own agenda, their own self important mental view of the way things need to be. It's a selfish view. It has to be. But at least in most of what we do, we are driving towards that self important agenda. Can we, some of the time, not all, focus on what's important to others? If we can do that, we will find that most people will pay it back by matching their priorities just a little closer to ours. And that is where the magic happens.
5. You have to pay it forward before it will get paid back. A good deed, a nice gesture, the simple act of consistent reliability will get a return on investment. People will trust you. Good intentions will materialize into good actions. People will do what they say they will do, and treat you as you would want them to treat you. When you are a reliable person, people will reciprocate that back to you.
It's interesting to me that a good employee can be viewed that way based simply on reliability. A good friend can be a good friend based simply on reliability. A good parent, the same. All positive interactions build on the foundation of reliability, because reliability is the root of trust. People want to trust other people. We want to trust others so desperately that we trust without proof that we should trust. Why not be that breath of fresh air? Make people confident that they can trust you because you are reliable. Simple reliability will give you meaningful friendships. It will get you promoted at work. In a day and age where everyone is so focused on trying to selfishly gain the advantage, it is easy to let the selfish nature of others propel you by being reliable. In other words, when people can count on you, in a world where that quality is rare, they will want you on their team.
Check out my satirical fiction:
"Delightfully offensive!" Slighted by humanity, God must put down the bottle long enough to save the world...
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